Important Works on Paper in the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale

Important Works on Paper in the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale

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  Edgar Degas, Danseuse à l'éventail, circa 1895-1900

  ^{Estimate $300,000 – 500,000}
  
  Danseuse à l'éventail is a remarkable example of Degas’ favorite subject: that of ballet dancers in the quiet moments either side of a performance. In the present work, Degas experiments with the use of pastel by using the medium to imbue the sheet with all the energy and movement present in the backstage world of these ballet performances. Rendered in vibrant hues of pink, blue, green and yellow, Degas skillfully depicts the vigorous movement of the dancer’s fan while also alluding to the flurry of colorful tutus behind the dancer through the quick, energetic application of pigment in the background.

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  Henri Matisse, Portrait de femme, 1942

  ^{Estimate $180,000 – 250,000}
  
  Albert Skira founded Editions Skira in Lausanne in 1928 with a grandiose ambition – to commission great artists to illustrate the best in literature. Henri Matisse was involved with one of the earliest publications in 1932, producing 29 etchings for Stéphane Mallarmé’s Poésies. Matisse created Portrait de femme for Skira's twentieth anniversary catalogue.

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  Fernand Léger, Étude pour "La Grande parade", 1948

  ^{Estimate $250,000 – 350,000}
  
  Étude pour "La Grande parade" is a preparatory work for Léger's monumental masterpiece of 1954, La Grande parade, now in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The present work is a superb example of Léger's fascination with the expressive potential of color and geometric technique, both hallmarks of his work.

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  Pablo Picasso, Homme accoudé à une table, 1915

  ^{Estimate $400,000 – 600,000}
  
  Homme accoudé à une table is a testament to Picasso’s extraordinary draftsmanship. Executed in 1915, the work displays the motifs of Picasso’s Cubist output to superb effect. The rippling lines and textures are wonderfully varied, and it is this variation that renders the work so visually stimulating.

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  Honoré Daumier, L'avocat pathétique, circa 1850-55

  ^{Estimate $100,000 – 150,000}
  
  Infused with light touches of satire, Honoré Daumier's superb works masterfully convey the energy and drama of judicial proceedings in 19th-century French courtrooms. The present work is among the most vigorous, with a penumbra of lively pencil lines clearly visible around the subject’s outstretched arms.

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  André Derain, La danse, circa 1905-06

  ^{Estimate $150,000 – 250,000}
  
  French painter and sculptor André Derain was a leading figure of the avant-garde during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although he returned to a sense of classicism in his later career, Derain is best known for his role in the development of Fauvism alongside Henri Matisse in the years following the turn of the century. La danse was completed shortly after Derain and Matisse's eventful summer in the South of France, where the pair painted landscapes and water scenes with bold, nearly acidic color and a relatively free handling of paint. These works were subsequently refereed to as Les Fauves, or "wild beasts."

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  Edgar Degas, Paysage, circa 1890-92

  ^{Estimate $250,000 – 350,000}
  
  The present work was featured in Degas’ sensational exhibition at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1892 – not only his first and only solo show, but an exhibition that would prove to be a breakthrough for the brand new process of color printmaking. Perhaps most surprising of all was the subject matter Degas chose to exhibit: landscapes, a pivot away from a reputation built on depictions of ballerinas, laundresses and nudes. In part because Degas publicized himself as the premier painter of the human figure, his production of landscapes has been largely overlooked.

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    Category: Impressionist & Modern Art

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